The following policies provide guidance for the preconditions report for online institutions:

To meet Precondition 5.1, an online institution must be approved by the state agency or agencies responsible for program approval of teacher education in the state in which the central administration offices are located. The most recent state approval letters and state list of approved programs indicate that all eligible programs are approved. If any program is not approved, the unit must provide a statement that it is not currently accepting new applicants into the non-approved program(s). For programs that are approved with qualifications or are pending approval, the unit must describe how it will bring the program(s) into compliance.

To meet Precondition 5.2, an online institution must report its summary pass rates in a table that indicates each state in which completers take licensure tests. The table must include the state pass rate for each state and the percent of the institution’s completers who passed the test.

Although candidates in an online institution may live in different states, NCATE requires state program approval only in the state in which the central administration offices are located. States in which completers are pursuing a license will decide whether to accept for a license a candidate’s completion of that program in a way similar to accepting completers of traditional programs from the same state. The online institution must make clear to candidates that they must meet the requirements of the state in which they are seeking a license and may be required to take additional courses or pass additional assessments.

BOE teams will conduct an on-site visit to the location of the central administration offices of the online institution. Visits to the sites of other administrative offices or clinical practice sites will be determined by the team chair, the institution, and NCATE staff.

Assessment data on candidates must be disaggregated for program and unit review by the states in which candidates are living at the time they take the assessment.

All programs eligible for national review by NCATE must submit program reports on the timeline required by NCATE through the SPAs.